inclusion

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Genderless Fashion: Inclusivity in the Apparel Industry

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Genderless fashion

We were so excited to see genderless fashion make an appearance at New York Fashion Week 2022 as it shines a new light on inclusivity in the apparel industry.

Gender-fluid brands are taking great strides to make the apparel industry more inclusive. By creating apparel for all people, despite gender identity, these brands are providing options that better suit and represent their employees and customers. You can check out a few of the amazing gender-fluid collections at TomBoyX, Sans Gêne, ClHu, and The Phluid Project.

According to GET Phluid, an across-industry leader in corporate education, companies with long-term commitments to LGBTQIA+ inclusiveness outperform others in their sector. Not only is more representation better for employees and customers, but it has clear benefits for companies including improved financial performance, stronger innovation, less attrition, and a more engaged workforce.

Also according to GET Fluid, 77% of Generation Z claims that a company’s diversity and inclusion policies are a determining factor for their choice of employer. Moreover, Gen Z and millennials will soon make up the majority of the workforce and are deeply passionate about inclusion.

Vans sets a great example for cultivating inclusivity in the workplace. In 2022, Vans donated $200,000 to three organizations that are all dedicated to uplifting the voices of the LGBQIA+ community. The brand also empowered three artists of the community to express their individuality through their own artistic collections that can be seen here.

Check out these resources that can help you to best cultivate inclusive hiring practices, educate your team, and offer support to organizations who uplift underrepresented communities.

Our team provides recruiting, HR, and employer branding support to help your team achieve a positive and inclusive company culture. Connect with us here or at info@emergingblue.com.

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eCommerce for All: Making the Online Experience More Accessible

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Emerging Blue Diversity and Inclusion Accessibility

In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we’re bringing a spotlight on the ways eCommerce can be made more accessible.

Many brands and retailers “miss out on millions of potential customers when they don’t design websites to be accessible to shoppers who use assistive technologies or rely on a keyboard to navigate online.” In fact, 15% of the world’s population experiences some form of disability. According to the Baymard Institute, 94% of the largest eCommerce sites can be challenging or even impossible to navigate for people with disabilities.

More and more people are choosing to shop online. With such a rapidly growing surge of online shoppers, there have been increased demands for brands and retailers to seriously invest into their e-commerce businesses. Such efforts include:

  • Diversifying your team

  • Providing visual alternatives

    • Descriptive alternative texting caters to users with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments. This feature provides accurate and descriptive alternative text for images, form fields, and page descriptions to be read aloud to the user.

  • Differentiating links from surrounding text and backgrounds

    • Links are crucial to navigating around a site. By providing descriptive titles and adequate contrast ratios for links, users with disabilities can better navigate the site.

  • Enhancing keyboard navigability

    • For users with mobility impairments who rely on a keyboard for site navigation, having all-site functionality operable on a keyboard can be a gamechanger.

At Emerging Blue, we are constantly striving to uphold our commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion with all hiring and employment practices. Our goal is to both embody and coach our clients on creating inclusive environments in which all candidates and employees are treated with respect.


Read more about our DE&I commitment on our About page and on our Blog.